THOMAS AND JENNIFER

Front Room Light

2012-02-13T20:32:00.002-07:00

Our front room did not have a light, so we took it upon ourselves to change that. The first thing that had to be done was to make the whole to put the switch box. It was a two switch box and we knocked out part of the cinder block in order to make room for a three switch box.

The wires here are for the old ones for the porch light and an outlet along the wall. We ran new wire to these areas and used this one to fish wires from the basement up to the box. The hole in the wall was just the right size for the wires. We hooked the new wire to the bottom of the old wire and pulled it through. The shoelace is so that the wire does not fall down in the wall, leaving us no way to pull up the new wires.

Our next step was cutting and fishing the wires from the light across the ceiling and down the wall. The first hole we cut was in the ceiling. Then we cut the hole in the wall. We needed to cut holes in order to drill a hole in the top plate, a 2X4, of the wall for the wire to pass through. There was one brace in the wall about five feet up. We used the thermostat hole to reach it and drill a hole in it. We were able to get away with only a few small holes. Thanks to me.

Thomas kept telling me that he needed to make more holes. He thought that he was running in to more support pieces running from stud to stud. This was not the case. I was helping one of the boys and came back to Thomas cutting with his sheet rock knife. I told him to stop. He had already cut about a foot, that was not needed. When he had tried to fish the wire he had run in to just to side stud. Luckily I got in there before it became a hole.

It ended up being a full day project but it was great to finally have a light in the front room. When we turned it on, both Seth and Carter cheered and shouted for joy.

We now have some small holes to patch and it will all be complete. The front room's electrical is all finished. On to the next room.

CARTER...Where Are My Tools?

2012-02-07T10:07:00.003-07:00

Lately Jennifer and I are always working on some project around the house. The boys are right there with us doing their best to help. Carter is the most interested. I must remember to put my tools up when I am not using them. Carter likes to carry them off and set them down in random places. I sometimes waste 10 minutes searching for a tool. Last night I was cutting holes in the wall for some new outlets in the front room. I was using a small level to line up the box and scribe a line on the wall to cut the opening for my box. I cut the first one and then went downstairs to drill a hole in the bottom of the wall for the wire to run through. After I came back up, I could not find my level. I searched all around. I immediately blamed Carter. He had no clue what I wanted. After wasting time looking in vain, I just went on eye balling the level of the next one. I then saw Carter take my pencil and put it in the previous outlet hole in the wall. I stuck my hand in and found my level and another pencil that I had been missing.

I got all the holes cut for 5 new outlets in the front room. Tonight I will run the wires and hook up the outlets. Jennifer did not want Carter dumping random items in the wall, so I put blue electrical boxes in all the holes. I screwed them to the studs, so they can be removed later to allow for fishing of wires.

Always put your tools up where little kids cannot reach them. Dad has told me many times that he had to do the same thing when I was little.

Carter Would Like to Say...

2012-01-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

I AM GONNA

BE A BIG

BROTHER

August 15, 2012

Jazz vs Clippers

2012-01-18T20:32:00.003-07:00

Our 6th anniversary was back on the 13th of January. To celebrate we got tickets and went to a Jazz game. The boys spent the night at Grandma Jenson's house. Seth was very excited to stay. Grandma told him that she had chicken nuggets for dinner.

We started out with dinner at Crown Burger, one block from the Delta Center. Parking lots near the Delta Center charge $10 for event parking. If you eat at crown burger and spend at least $14, you can park there for free. That's what we did. The food was great.

We were pretty high up. Many people around us were complaining about how bad the seats were. I did not mind. I was glad to be there. One little boy said, "It's my birthday, and we got crappy seats."

There was a little girl sitting a few rows behind us that was quite annoying. She was screaming almost constantly. The guy next to me asked his wife, "Where are that girls parents." The problem is they were sitting next to her. One funny thing was she kept calling the Clippers the toenail clippers.

At half time I tried to buy some nachos. They were all out. How does that happen? I just had water instead.

The Jazz beat the Clippers by 29 points, so we enjoyed the game. It was a late game and we got back to Price at midnight. We slept at Grandma and Grandpa Jenson's house, since the boys were already there. We had a great time. I hope to do it again next year.

Storage Room Shelving

2012-01-17T10:01:00.003-07:00

I work at a flooring store. We have racks with samples of all the products one might put in their home. Every few years manufacturers change the size of their samples, so that stores have to buy new displays. In order to get the newest colors and designs you have to buy the new displays. The old displays are garbage. I have a hard time throwing away good material. Last year, before we had our house, I was tearing down an old hardwood display. I thought I might be able to use the samples for some shelving, so I put them in the store's basement. There they sat for 10 months. I used 15 out of 30 on this project. The others are still down there waiting for the next project; probably the shed shelving.

Finally came the time to use them. The hardwood samples are 2 feet by 2 feet, so I built the shelving frames to match. I did not have to cut any of the samples. I just drilled pilot holes and nailed them down.

Seth and Carter were a big help. They handed me nails and mostly stayed out of the way. Seth even got out his own hammer and "bammed" (his word) some nails.

Here is the finished product. It was a fun project. I learned a lot, mostly from my mistakes. I need to thank Skip Gordon. I looked at his garage for a how-to on shelf building.

New Electrical

2012-01-15T19:17:00.002-07:00

All the electrical wiring in our house is outdated. It had no ground wire. We had the main service updated from 60 amps to 200 amps. 60 amps is pretty low, only giving us 12 breakers. 200 amps is normal and gives us 30 breakers. This allows us to put each room on its own breaker. Now I am running new wire through the whole house.

First, we decided to do the upstairs bathroom. The light switch was out in the hall, so we moved it to the inside of the bathroom. There was no outlet in the bathroom, so we install one of those too. Here I am cutting a whole in the sheet rock for the new switch.

Here is Jennifer hooking up the new wire to the fishing cable, so that she can push and I can pull the wire downstairs and then up the light.

Here she is sending down the fishing cable to pull up the wire for the light.

The wall had a brace in the middle. I was not able to get the wire passed the brace all the way from the basement up to the light. I ended up cutting a hole in the wall, drilling a hole in the brace and feeding the wires through. Then I put the sheet rock piece back in the hole, screwing it to the brace and with a bit of mud and paint, returned it to its former condition. It's behind the stove, so it is barely seen anyway.

Jennifer is happy now that she can do her in the bathroom with the new outlet.

40 Degree Shower

2012-01-15T18:24:00.003-07:00

Have you ever noticed that the on/off switch for your furnace is about a foot off the ground? Well, Carter noticed this too. He loves switches.

On Friday night, we were working in the basement. Carter and Seth were playing and not getting into too much trouble. I saw Carter turn off the furnace and immediately turned it back on. I got down on his level and firmly explained to him that he must not touch that switch.

Guess what, he did it again. This time without me noticing.

The next day, we got up at 6 am to get ready to go to the temple. It felt really cold, but I did not make the connection. You know how when you get out of bed, the bed was nice and warm. It always feels chiller out of bed than it did in it. We got all ready and headed to Provo. When we got home at 3 pm it still felt really cold in the house. When we checked the thermostat, it was set at 60 degrees, but the temperature reading said 48 degrees. Carter had turned off the furnace the night before. At 3 pm it was 48 degrees. It must have been in the low 40's at 6 am. I thought that shower was kind of cold.

Why don't they put those switches higher on the furnace? Like 4 feet high? Is it in the electrical code that those switches must be 10 inches off the ground? I am going to look into moving mine higher. I don't care what the code says. If there is nowhere to mount it higher, I plan to put some sort of cover over it. Carter will not be the last one of my little kids that finds that switch.

Jazz Men

2011-12-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

I do not think that Seth and Carter know that there is a Utah Jazz basketball team but they love to wear these jerseys. Seth has started to recognize his numbers, so he is number 2 and Carter is number 8. Seth says, "Mom will you tell number 8 he needs to come play basketball with me."

It is great that they are able to start playing with each other with out their mother needing to referee.

Santa

2011-12-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

We were lucky to get a picture of Seth with Santa. There was a line for Santa so we were standing patiently in line visiting with the others from our ward. I turned around to see where Seth was at and he had butted in line and was already on Santa's lap. Thomas hurried and stepped up and took a picture. The little weasel.

Through out the month we have been asking Seth whats for Christmas. He would tell us he wanted a candy cane and a football. Santa happened to have this football in his bag. Now all we need is to get his candy canes for him.

Carter on the other hand would not even look at Santa. He did not cry, but was glad to be done with Santa and go back to his mom.

Santa did a great job and we are excited for the season.

After Santa we had a nice dinner and a excellent program to help us to remember the true "Reason for the Season"

We are so grateful to be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Snow Day

2011-12-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we got about 5 inches of snow so I got the boys all dress in there snow cloths and we headed out side. Seth wanted to have a snow fight. The snow was very powdery so we through it around and had a great time.

Seth found some snow chips so he was enjoying those. I made sure they were not yellow. We also played some baseball. Seth found a stick that he used as a bat and I through him snow balls to hit. He hit them all home runs!

Carter did not last long, but was happy until he got cold.

I then took him in the house and treated him to hot chocolate. It was a fun activity.

Little Helpers in the Kitchen

2011-12-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

Seth and Carter follow me everywhere I go. Sometimes they get into things and make more work for me. Other times they help out and enjoy the work.

Seth helping unload the dishwasher.

Seth trying to act cool, knowing his picture is being taken.

Carter is very helpful. He watches the cookies bake.

Begging for cookies. What a cutie!

Carter's Vitamins

2011-12-11T16:04:00.001-07:00

Every night we give the boys there multivitamin after they brush their teeth. Seth has always loved taking the vitamin but Cater does not like it. Every time Carter sees Seth taking his vitamins he wants to take them also. This is the reaction we get every night. We thought it was blog worthy. Watch it with sound for the full effect.

Afternoon Snack

2011-12-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

Thomas loves his popcorn. We have had an air pop corn popper to reduce the cost of his addiction. When ever we sit down to watch a movie the boys and I have a small bowl and Thomas has his own large bowl.

The boys were asleep, so Thomas thought it was a get time for popcorn. He was able to enjoy the whole bowl.

He was so sad when the popcorn was gone.

New Driveway

2011-12-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

After we cut down our tree, we decided to put a driveway on the east side of our property. I will park my truck in this driveway and get it off the street.

I got this white pipe for free, and cut it in half. It was not long enough, so I put some old, rusty tin roofing in the middle.

I used some discarded rebar that Dad had lying around. The driveway is 10 feet wide, so I did 5 feet at a time. I mixed all the cement by hand in a 10 gallon container. The first night I did 30 bags of cement.

The next day Dad helped and it went a lot quicker with one mixing and one troweling it smooth. The first batch was not 100% cured, so we knelt on a wide board to spread out our weight and not have our toes make divots.

Getting just the right consistency is important. Less water means strong cement. Dad had a tendency to add too much water.

Mixing cement is a dusty job.

60 bags of cement later, this is how it turned out.

2 loads of gravel equaling 1 1/2 tons. Seth was there to help. I over loaded the wheel barrow a few times. It made breaking noises as it rolled along.

Black ground cover went down first, to stop weeds. I used a rake to spread things out nicely.

If cement is laid too thin it breaks. I framed the cement in so that it was 2 inches thick along the front edge that I will drive over. Then I got rotomill to make a ramp with. Rotomill is asphalt that has been torn up in order to resurface a road. Put the rotomill in place and soak it in diesel fuel, then tamp it in place.

Now we each have a parking spot. One more project down. On to the next.

Getting Ready For Christmas

2011-12-04T16:01:00.000-07:00

Seth and Carter love to wear the Santa Clause hat. We also have an elf hat so they take turns with the two of them.

Christmas Tree

2011-11-29T13:06:00.001-07:00

We went out on Friday and cut down our Christmas tree. We got it from our super secret spot. We saw several good ones, but it took us a little while to find one that was just perfect.

Here were are ready to carry it back to the truck. Michael, Jen, and Mark were there as well. Sorry Mark we did not get a photo with you in it.

Thomas and I brought the tree into the house last night. We decorated it after the boys went to bed. We even had a few presents to place under the tree (thanks Mark and Linda).

When the boys got up they were super excited about the tree. We have jingle bells on our tree so Seth started singing Jingle Bells. I think this will be a fun Christmas. The boys are at the right age to be excited. Everything Seth sees he wants for Christmas.

Christmas Lights

2011-11-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

We put up Grandma and Grandpa Jenson's lights for them. We bought them the new LED lights. Thomas was great to be the one on the ladder. Jen held the lights so the lights would not get caught on the bushes.

Mark would hand Thomas the light clips and hold the ladder. Linda kept Mark working and helped to get all the extra lights out of the boxes before throwing the boxes away.

Michael talked on the phone with his mother through most of the work and then watched Seth and Carter in the house after their naps.

When we came in the house this is what Carter was up to. He was wearing one of Grandpa's hats and wearing my slippers.

The lights look great. The LED lights seem to have more of a sparkle. We want to change our lights to LED for next year.

New Sink...for Real.

2011-11-17T11:58:00.001-07:00

The upstairs bathroom sink was the last piece of the yellow porcelain in the bathroom. (The kitchen sink is the final piece of yellow porcelain in the whole house.)

Seth saw us remove the old sink and put in the new one. When we were all done he kept saying that we had painted the sink; like the tub. When Seth gets something in his head, it hard for him to let it go.

The sink looks great and finishes the bathroom. My favorite part about this sink is that it only cost $5 at DI. Deseret Industries is Thomas' home improvement warehouse.

Thomas broke one of the plastic pipes when he was taking apart the old sink. He'll get one after work today, may be from DI (probably not). For now the sink will empty into this bucket. It's funny how much water you conserve when your sink drains into a bucket. We are using as little as possible. This five gallon bucket will probably only have half a gallon in it a the end of the day.

New Tube?

2011-11-11T17:13:00.004-07:00

When we bought our house, the kitchen sink, the toilet, the bathroom sink and bathtub were all yellow. Not dirty yellow, just made that way. I guess yellow porcelain was popular some time ago. We don't particularly like the yellow and we have decided to change it.

We wanted a white tub, but we did not want the work of tearing out the old one. We decided to use a Rust-oleum tub and tile refinishing kit.

We cleaned the tub really well and then taped off the edges. The kit was enough for two and a half coats and it covered extremely well. The kit was a two part mixture of paint and epoxy. When I started brushing it on, it nearly glued the brush to the tub. There is no way that paint is coming off. I figure your could paint your car with this stuff.

This paint made so many fumes. We opened the bathroom window, turned on a fan, shut the door, and but a towel outside at the bottom of the door to block the fumes. We waited one hour between coats.

We needed to wait 72 hours before getting the tub wet. We applied the refinishing kit the night before we left for the weekend. Now when we get back home, the tub will be already to go.

Tree Removal

2011-11-10T12:58:00.000-07:00

When we bought our house, there was a large tree in the front parking strip. Parts of the tree had no leaves and it looked half dead. Thomas was talking with the neighbor about removing it. He told us that the city will do it for free. Thomas decided to go talk to someone at the city offices about it. He planned to go after work. Before he got a chance, someone from the city knocked on our front door and asked if we wanted that tree removed. Its roots were pushing up the sidewalk and the gutter and the city wanted it taken down.

We were glad to see it go. The city did the work for free. Thank you taxpayers.

The city came with their boom truck and cut it down with a chain saw. It told Seth they were going up in a bucket to cut down the tree. He got confused and kept saying "Look at that guy in the cup."

Seth must have thought it was better than TV. He watched every moment of the work. He even threw in a few oh's, ah's and look at that's.

This is what they left us with. No more tree, just a massive stump. That's when the real work began.

We dug around the edges, chopping roots as we went. Some of the roots were only the size of a baseball and Thomas cut through them with an ax in one or two chops. A few were larger and took more effort to remove. The largest was the size of a basketball. It took Thomas an hour or so to get it out and took his hands to brink of blistering. After the sides were all exposed with dirt and roots removed about twelve inches under each side, we brought in a truck. One of our neighbors was kind enough to use his diesel truck and a chain to yank it out. Hearing the crack of the roots and seeing it move was a great feeling.

Now all that is left is this giant hole. We'll start filling it in and tamping it down. Thomas plans to make a driveway where this tree once was. We'll let you know how that goes.

New Entertainment Center

2011-11-06T19:51:00.003-07:00

Jennifer told me months ago that I could get a new TV. I should have listened to her and got it immediately, but we have been very busy remodeling our house. With our old TV, we got zero channels. With our new TV, we get twenty channels; including BYUTV. With no TV we just watched DVDs. Now Seth and Carter can watch cartoons and Jennifer gets to watch the news and see the weather report. If we put the antenna in the same corner as the TV, we only get ten channels. We ended up putting the antenna in the front corner of the house and running a twenty-five foot cord to the TV.

The reason it took me so long to buy a new TV was that we did not have a stand to put it on. Our old TV stand was a cabinet and was not wide enough to fit a new flat screen bigger than a twenty-nine inch. I ended up taking off the top and cutting the sides and then putting the top back on the new height. We threw away the doors and painted the cabinet black. It turned out great.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T13:13:00.000-06:00

Halloween was a nice, fairly warm night.

The boys got pirate hats at the dollar store. They wore their Sunday shirts and some vests. We painted on beards with water colors. They had a great time.

Seth saw Thomas wearing his hat and eye patch and told him, "You look stupid." He just wanted Thomas to take it off and give it back. We had a great time with these little boys, and we got lots of candy.

Thank Heaven for Little Boys

2011-10-25T12:20:00.001-06:00

They are always cute when they are sleeping. I do not know why they sleep in some of the positons they do. I guess if it is comfortable for them then it works.

Seth and Carter are always right by our sides while we are working. They do not want to miss out on anything. For them water is like a magnet. They are always drawn right to the water every time we start working on cement. Carter tries to lift and move everything that Thomas does. He tries to lift full bags of cement and then whines for help. He is so silly as he tried to be so big. He follows Thomas around and moves all of Thomas’ tools as he puts them down. The tools end up far from the work spot and we know Carter is to blame.

Wrestling The Mummy

2011-10-09T17:52:00.006-06:00

Grandma Jenson got out all of her Halloween decorations and the boys were very interested. They are very grateful for the new toys. Anything new is always the most desirable.

Carter likes this little mummy the best. It's probably because it so close to his size. He carries it around and plays with it.

He really likes to wrestle with it. He will knock it down, just like Seth knocks him down. Sometimes he gets the mummy on top just to make it think that it is winning. Then he punches it in the face and teaches it a lesson.

In the end he honks its nose really good and it begs for mercy.

Carter Cleaning Up

2011-10-09T14:19:00.000-06:00

Carter loves to make a mess. I try to keep toys like blocks and puzzles out of sight and out of mind, so that they do not end up all over the house. The other day I was helping Seth lie down for a nap and came into the front room to see that Carter had dumped out all the blocks.

I decided that I would sit down and play with the blocks with him. While I was trying to make a tower Carter brought me the bag. He then started putting all the blocks back in the bag. I tried to keep building my tower and he kept handing me the bag. He needed me to hold the bag open, so he could put the blocks in. If I tried to put it down, he would hand it right back to me. He then took my block and put them all way.

This boy will be a great addition to the nursery and we are already counting down the weeks.

Enrichment

2011-10-09T12:00:00.003-06:00

We have been in our new ward for almost 3 months and this is the first Relief Society Enrichment night they have had. I was nerves about not really knowing anyone. It was a great time though.

We made these cute family blocks. They had three block color options and four scrapbook paper options. I liked all of the options but wanted to put together my own style and taste. I chose black blocks but brought my own scrapbook paper and embellishments.

I love how they turned out and have the perfect place to display them. Thomas is wanting to close this area off. I am going to keep it open as long as I can.

When I returned home this is what I found. Carter was perfectly content to sleep on Thomas shoulder while Thomas played video games.

Thomas said Carter just climbed up on his lap and went right to sleep.

It was a great night and everything was great at home!!!

Applesauce

2011-10-05T10:22:00.002-06:00

Last week I picked apples and made applesauce. It is great living in a community where ward members plant and grow more then they need and are willing to share.

Thomas helped me picked the apples in the blue bucket and the others I picked on 2 other days.

I borrowed a sauce maker from my mom. It is designed so that you feed the apples into the top and sauce comes out one spout while the skins, seeds, stems, and other guts come out the other spout. It worked great.

I filled every pot in the house, cooking my apples.

I made 14 quarts of applesauce on my own and then together Clara and I made 18 quarts more. We still have at least that much more to do but it will wait until another day.

I enjoy canning, well maybe not so much the work of canning, but the satisfaction of having food on the storage shelf. In our house we have a utility room with plenty of shelving for nice organization of all our food storage.

It is good to learn a dying art.

Our New Best Friend

2011-09-25T18:49:00.001-06:00

From the title of this post, you probably think that we got a dog. I just want to say, "HECK NO!" We got a wagon for the boys.

We live 2 blocks from a park, so we go often. I only have a single stroller, and only have room for one boy to ride. Neither of my boys are strong enough to walk all the way to the park and after playing are less likely to walk home. I always ended up pushing Seth in the stroller and carrying Carter. I asked Thomas to either get me a double stroller or a wagon. He almost bought a new one, but then found this one on KSL classifieds. It was one fourth the price of a new one. It is in great shape and we are really enjoying having it. It will be very useful on Halloween. We are very happy that it is made of plastic. My parents have a wagon. It makes the little boys bums all rusty. They love riding in it and I figure that clothes wash, so we just let them have fun.

Seth and Carter LOVE their new wagon. They always want to be playing in it or around it. Sometimes they are content to just sit and go nowhere. We got home from church and they went straight to climb in it. It has two seats, one forward facing the other rear facing. Carter would rather sit facing forward, so he sits on the floor in the middle.

BYU vs UCF

2011-09-24T17:02:00.000-06:00

Usually before the game we eat sandwiches. This time we had hot food. We started the evening with some hotdogs and root beer. Thomas brought our emergency camp stove to heat up the hot dogs. It was good to use it in a non-emergency. We also had diced home grown tomatoes, grated mozzarella cheese, and relish to top them off. There were also salads and dessert.

We all enjoyed our meal and were ready to cheer on the Cougars!!!

Seth had a great time at the game. He loved watching for Cosmo and cheering on BYU. He loves the cougar fight song.

The Cougars won and we all had a lot of fun. We also have tickets for October 22, with my parents. We hope that game is just as fun as this one was.

Green Vitamins

2011-09-11T18:30:00.003-06:00

Seth's favorite color is GREEN.
He loves anything and everything that is green. He settles for blue if green is not available. He loves green grapes, green apples, lettuce and broccoli and all other foods that are green.

The other day we had some raspberry punch, but Seth wanted green punch. I told him that it was "green belly juice" and that it would turn his belly green. He was pleased with this and drank his juice. He kept lifting his shirt telling his mom that his belly was green.

Every night after he brushes his teeth Seth gets his vitamins. His vitamins are liquid and taken by mouth from a dropper. He got new vitamins recently. Lucky him, they are green and they turn his teeth and tongue green.

He loves to get up by the mirror and look at his green tongue and teeth. Next to the mirror it is hard to tell which Seth is the real Seth.

Yellowstone

2011-09-11T18:11:00.008-06:00

We went to Yellowstone National Park with Jennifer's family. We were there 5 days.

Of course, we had to see Old Faithful. It goes off once every 90 minutes. We got there one hour before it went off. We had a nice rest and met a few nice people as we waited. It was worth the wait.

We saw many hot pots. They looked so clean and pure. They made me thirsty looking at them. You must know that you can't drink them. The water is near 100 degrees and full of too many minerals. They smell like sulfur.

Our favorite hot pot was not pure water. It was full of mud. Hot air was escaping from deep in the earth. This caused the mud to bubble up and shoot up in the air. Sometimes it shot as high as 10 or 15 feet in the air.

We hiked to the bottom of a giant water fall. The climb would have been very dangerous, however the park service put in some nice metal steps all the way down. It was still a long hike down and back up. The kids could not walk that far and had to be carried. The next day all of our legs were sore.

The mist at the bottom of the waterfall made a rainbow.

We saw many elk, buffalo, deer, ducks and crows. The boys loved it. Seth kept calling the crows, eagles. We swam in the pool at the condo every night and just relaxed in the hot tub. The boys loved that too.

It was an 8 hour drive, but it went by rather quickly. We listened to a book on tape. We enjoyed the drive too.

Party for Erica

2011-08-27T19:02:00.002-06:00

Erica lives in California, but she was in Richfield this last week. It was also her birthday on the 26th. We went down there for a party.

First we kicked a few balls around the gym. Then I took the carts off the bottom of the garbage cans, and they were a hit. The kids played with those carts for hours.

Fried chicken, pork and beans, potato salad and jello salad made a great meal.

Cupcakes and ice cream made a great dessert. No candles, but we still sang twice.

I must say thanks to Steven and Maya for letting us stay the night. We watched the movie "Rio" three times and Seth loved it every time.

Cabinet Doors

2011-08-26T11:18:00.003-06:00

In remodeling the kitchen, we tore down some cabinets that hung in the middle of the kitchen ceiling. We saved all the wood, just in case we would be able to use it somewhere else. That way it would match the existing cabinets.

We had 8 doors just like this one. I bought a 6 foot tall cabinet at DI. I figured that I would take the old doors and make them fit that new cabinet. My goal was to make the new cabinet match the old ones.

It was a fun project. All done with a circular saw, two clamps, a straight edge and a drill. I messed up a few times, but learned a lot too. I kind of wish I could start over, but oh well. I learned a few secrets for making cabinets doors. The boys enjoyed blowing the saw dust around. Jennifer is pleased with the extra storage.

Full Rain Gutters

2011-08-20T19:42:00.002-06:00

Today at DI we found a Gazelle exercise machine. It did not have a price tag. I asked Jennifer how much she thought they would ask. She figured it would be about $30. I guessed $20, but planned to ask to take it for $15. The manager said,"Don't tell anyone but, if you take it right now, it's only $5." We jumped at that. On the way home, we thought that may be the reason that they wanted it gone was that some little kid had gotten hurt playing on it.

Seth also got some new shoes. He had a great time playing on the Gazelle. He called his new shoes his "exercise shoes."

After all the fun it was time to get to work. Today we cleaned out the rain gutters. Our roof is tar and gravel. The rain gutters have not been cleaned out in years. As you can see here, on the left they are cleaned out and on the right they are completely full of gravel.

Jennifer and I scooped the gravel out of the rain gutters one handful at a time. Two hours later we were all done and the rain gutters were as clean as new.

There's Nothing Like Basketball to Wake You Up in the Morning

2011-08-18T09:04:00.002-06:00

These boys love their basketball hoop. The height is adjustable. We put it on the second lowest level and Carter is all about dunking it. All Carter can do is dunk it. He does not understand how to shoot the ball. A little B-ball is the first thing these boys do in the morning.

Seth shows him how to shoot it. I ask Seth if he wants me to raise the hoop to his height. He tells me that we need to leave it down, so Carter can dunk it too.

Carter is a dunking machine. He understands the rules, and never hangs on the rim.

BYU Scrimage

2011-08-13T20:38:00.004-06:00

Today we went to LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo.

BYU had a scrimage that was open to the public. Seth and I went. The team looked good and seeing them play got us excited for the upcoming season.

We had to get a picture out front with the cougar statue. We were hoping to see Cosmo running around as well. We did not see him while we were in the stadium. As we were walking back to the car, Seth said, "Everybody, wait. There's Cosmo." It was a large vinyl poster of Cosmo. It was not the real thing, but Seth loved it anyway.

It was a great day. I loved sharing it with Seth. It was great being in LaVell Edwards Stadium. I am so excited to go to a real game later this year.

Peaches....no Apricots

2011-08-10T12:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Thomas called me from work and said Kathy (his co-worker) has a big peach tree with peaches that are ready to be pick. She said we could have them all. I told him great, I know of some girls that would love to have something to do and not mind picking peaches.

When we got there we realized they were apricots instead of peaches. What would I do with apricots? They do not bottle well. Peaches would have been so nice!!! Then I thought I am sure they make great jam, and I already have experience with making jam.

We only had one latter so we had to take turns. The girls were a lot of help. We were able to get half a laundry basket full in about 20 minutes.

Carter needed some extra help staying out of all the apricots that had all ready fallen. To him they look great for eating.

Clara and I are working on the jam. So far we have made 8 pints, which is only a forth of the apricots.

I am loving all this canning and can not wait until all of our tomatoes are ripe, so that we can make salsa!!!

Jam

2011-08-09T11:39:00.001-06:00

I made strawberry jam today. I was a lot easier then I thought it would be. The recipe that came with the pectin is what I used. It had simple, self explanatory directions and turned out great.

I think that tomorrow I am going to make apricot jam. I got free apricots today from a neighbor :)

Jennifer's B-day

2011-08-08T15:08:00.002-06:00

For Jennifer's birthday present, I bought a Nintendo Wii. My brothers and sisters all complained about my gift and said that it was not really for Jennifer, rather it was for me. They said that she should buy me a Kitchen-aide attachment for my birthday. I told her to get me an attachment for slicing fries and I would be okay with that.

Jennifer does enjoy the Wii, but the boys like it more. I figure that Seth and Carter can play the Wii and Jennifer can read a book or whatever she wants. It gives her time to do something else while the boys are inside, in sight and busy; not needing her constant attention.

Seth's B-Day

2011-07-25T07:47:00.005-06:00

Seth has been telling us for months that his birthday was coming up. Seth turned 3 years old on July 22. The night before he was having trouble going to sleep with all the excitement. Grandma Jenson was helping lie down when he said, "I go to sleep, I see the moon, I wake up and I see the sun." Then he rolled over and went to sleep.

He wanted a green bike helmet, so we spray painted an old one of Grandma's. He also got a Lightning McQueen video game.

Carter wanted to be just like Seth, so he found a helmet and got it on his head too. Carter does everything that Seth does; good or bad.

Seth also got a road rug to drive his cars on.

Seth wanted green candles on his cake, but we did not have any. He settled for blue ones instead. Seth was very excited helping his mom make a cake. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he said, "Chocolate cake." We ended up having hot dogs, potato salad and root beer. As I filled up his glass I said, "Here you go, Birthday Boy." He replied, "Thanks, Birthday Dad."

When it was time to eat cake and ice cream, Seth went around getting all of us to sit at the table. He kept saying, "Time for cake." I told him to wait a second for Grandpa, who had stepped into the other room. Seth grabbed him by the hand and said, "Come on, I'm having a birthday."

I asked Seth, "What kind of cake do you want, Chocolate?" He said, "No, brown." After the candles and the singing, Seth wanted a piece of cake and an ice cream cone.

Carter enjoyed the cake the most of all.

New Kitchen Flooring

2011-07-15T20:17:00.005-06:00

We've been working hard on our house. We got all the mudding and screwing and painting done. Now it is time to install the new flooring. We started with the kitchen. We are using a product called DuraCeramic. It looks like natural stone, but it is warmer and more comfortable under foot than ordinary ceramic. It has scotchgard protection which has stain and soil repellents. It is coated with an aluminum oxide finish for added stain and antibacterial protection.

We measured all the edges and found a center point to start from. You must avoid placing a tile that is only 2 or 3 inches wide on either side. Adjusting your center line from side to side can make larger edge pieces smaller and opposite edge pieces larger. We used Dad's chalk line to set up a guiding line and then started laying tiles. Just spread glue, then lay them down. Make sure the seams are tight together.

We laid all the whole tiles first and then the cut one. The cutting process starts with measuring the depth needed. An eighth of an inch short is best and makes an easy fit. Plus, base boards and caulk will hide the gap.

Then mark the tile and score it using a razor blade knife and a straight edge. After scoring, snap off the extra piece. After the cut, I dry fit it into place. If it does not fit, I was still able to trim off where needed. Then Jennifer would put down glue and get it in place, while I started on the next tile measurements and cuts.

The straight cuts are easy. The most difficult are those that must wrap around the base of the door jam. You must measure and really think it out before you cut. I did mess up one tile trying to get this one right. I did not waste the miscut tile though. I used it on a different corner. I think this cut turned out great and I was very proud of it.

When we first got started, the tile went down quickly. They were full pieces. We were able to put them down as fast as we could spread the glue. Dad commented that we would probably finish the kitchen and the bathroom in about 2 hours. Dad has never laid DuraCeramic. Once we started making cuts, things really slowed down. It took time to measure and cut and think things through. I did not want to rush through things and ruin a bunch of tiles over stupidity. We started work at 7 pm. I asked Jennifer how long she planned on staying. She said that we should just work as long as we were enjoying ourselves and until we were tired. We could always finish another night. We must have really enjoyed ourselves, because we worked until 3 in the morning.

At about 2:30 am, Jennifer sat down on the step, while I cut a tile, with her head in her hands. I finished the tile that I was cutting and then we cleaned up and headed to bed. Jennifer cleaned the glue off the trowel with water and I cleaned up all the empty boxes.

Here is the kitchen all finished. It looks great and we are very pleased. We still need to lay a few more pieces in the bathroom and the pantry and then we are all done.

Critchfield Family Reunion 2011

2011-07-10T16:02:00.005-06:00

The first event was a shower for Michael fiancee, Jen. Jen was so excited about all of the gifts. We also all enjoyed brownies and milk.
The party did not last long because it stated to rain, so we all returned to our tents.
The men went golfing during Jen's shower.

The next morning the reunion officially started with breakfast at 8 o'clock. For some morning did not come soon enough, because of all the wind through out the night.
The park was a very nice place for all the kids to play while parents visited. We also participated in several different crafts and water fun.

Jeff, as always, brought his water slide and all the kids loved it.

Tyler just wore himself out. He laid down on the sidewalk and fell asleep in direct sunlight. It was so warm and cozy that he would have slept and been badly burned. I found him there and moved him to the grass in the shade. He took a nice long nap.
The day was finished off with a great dutch oven cook off. All of the food was wonderful and we went home full. What a great weekend. See you again next year!!!

House Remodeling

2011-07-05T08:39:00.002-06:00

We purchased a house and closed on it on Wednesday and were able to take possession on Thursday. We wasted no time getting to work. The first thing we did was pull the kitchen cabinets down from the middle of the ceiling.

We then cut the counter top by the sink to move these cabinets to the front wall to open up the kitchen. This made a huge difference in the size of the kitchen. Our kitchen table will go in the middle.

The next step was to remove the old flooring. We used every tool we could find.

We had different techniques but after several long hours we had all of the flooring up.

This had to be the worst part, removing the old vinyl.

Now it was time to patch up the wholes and spaces left behind by the demolition.

Carter could not be left out of the sheet rocking fun

In the boys bedroom is a very pretty mural and I tried to talk Thomas into letting it stay. We figured that if we are going to put in new carpet it needed to be painted first. The big tree had to go.

The first time we showed the room to Seth he turned and ran the other direction. He was not happy with it.

He really enjoyed painting over the tree.

Carter also took part in the painting fun!!!

Cars 2

2011-06-26T15:35:00.002-06:00

The movie Cars 2 came to theaters last Friday, the 24th. Seth loves the original movie, so we decided to take him. I had heard on the radio that they were giving away free tickets to a special showing at 10 am on the release day. They were giving tickets to people that called in and people that showed up at their live events. On the 23rd I heard on the radio that they had extra tickets. They had not been able to give away all the tickets. Some people that won had not come by the radio station to claim theirs. The radio said to show up at 9 am and they would start handing out tickets. We got their at 8:30 am and there was already a line. They told us that they were not just going to give the tickets away, but that we would have to earn them. Since Lightning McQueen is a race car, they would have the kids race for tickets. Seth took dead last. He was the youngest in the group. They gave him tickets anyway. We got our tickets and got in line to go inside. The radio station then came by handing out raffle tickets for more prizes. One lady saw my shirt and said, "Oh, we're not letting BYU fans in." I said, "You have to. It's Cars 2." They let me in. We sat in the middle, on the 5th row from the front.

Before the movie started, they drew tickets and handed out prizes. Some kid up in the balcony had his number picked. The same lady that gave me a hard time for being a BYU fan said, "If that's that BYU fan, he's not getting this prize." I stood up and said, "No, I'm right here." They laughed and continued. Then came the final prize. It was a $100 prepaid Visa card. My number was drawn. The look on that lady's face when she saw that I had won was great. She said, "No way. Let me see that ticket. Is this a fake?" I just laughed and gladly accepted the $100.

We enjoyed the movie and had a great time. The tickets were worth the cost. Seth had too much root beer and had to go to the bathroom 3 times.

Happy 1st Birthday Carter

2011-06-21T21:06:00.006-06:00

Carter turned 1 year old today. He is such a little cutie. He does everything that his older brother Seth does. He may not have understood everything that went on, but he had a great time anyway.

He started with some sliced chicken nuggets and ate them all.

Then he had a coconut flavored sucker. It was the first sucker of this little suckers life and he loved it.

One candle for the birthday boy. Jennifer wanted to use blue frosting, but could not find any. She used white vanilla frosting and mixed in a blue popsicle. It turned out great.

This may look like a party hat, but its not. Seth wanted an ice cream cone and then once he got it he decided that he did not want to finish it. I told him to eat it or I was going to stick it on his head. As you see, he did not eat it.

Carter enjoyed his cake. He ate every crumb.

Carter got a little train for his birthday. Seth was very jealous and had to be sent in the other room so Carter could play with it.

Cutting Down the Neighbor's Trees

2011-06-20T21:40:00.001-06:00

The neighbor had mentioned to Dad that he wanted to cut down his trees along the property line that he shares with Dad. He had planted them too close to the fence. Dad offered to help. He just wanted Dad to know what was going on if Dad saw him in Dad's backyard. Some of the branches started to touch Dad's roof and the wind was making them scrape on the roof. Rather than let the neighbor get to cutting them down, we stepped in. We did not see any major damage, but it was good to get those branches before they ruined a few shingles.

The branches came down pretty easy. They were only about 4 inches thick.

Some of the branches were hanging over the house. We cut the end off the first branch and tied a rope to it. Then we threw it through a higher point in the next branch, so we could pull it and make it fall where we wanted.

Seth was there to help. He loved the crashing of the branches.

I was not sure if we were supposed to be smiling or grunting in this picture.

Timber!

Then we cut all the branches into 6 foot lengths, so they would fit in the back of Dad's truck. We put in as many as would fit and the rest on my trailer.
It's fun to build things and see improvements. Sometimes it is even more fun to tear things down. Demolition has it's rewards too.

New Receiver Hitch

2011-06-18T21:40:00.002-06:00

I put a receiver hitch on my truck. It puts the weight of my trailer on the frame, instead of on the bumper. This bumper is not rated for the weight of even my small trailer. I had some difficulty getting the trailer on and off. We figure that the trailer had bent the bumper just a little bit and made the ball misaligned with the trailer coupling.

The hitch bolts to the frame in the same spot as the bumper. Four bolts hold on the bumper and six bolts hold on the hitch. Two of the bolts are shared. I had to drill four new holes in the frame.

The rack that holds my spare tire hinges down to allow the tire to be removed. The hinge rusted through and I had it wired shut for a while. We welded on some new metal and now it works great.

It took a bit of pounding and clamping to get everything lined up. We got it on and it looks great.

Now the trailer will be properly supported. It will also ride level. The ball on the hitch is a few inches lower than the ball on the bumper. With the front of the trailer lower, the back of the trailer is higher. No more scraping in dips and driveways.

We hope to be moving into our house in a few weeks and the truck and trailer will be put to good use moving all our things; plus all the projects we will be doing. I also will be hauling a few things up north for Michael (couch, table and chairs). I will pick up a few things at Jennifer's parents' house on the way back (cedar chest, beds, table and chairs, anything else I can talk them into donating). This new hitch will be great.

Sod in the Backyard

2011-05-31T20:52:00.003-06:00

My parents' backyard has been dirt for more than 10 years. Every summer they have talked about getting grass planted. Usually they talk about getting started when the weeds are 3 or 4 feet high. I hate chopping weeds. This year we got started earlier. The weeds were only 2 feet high. Dad and I chopped weeds and got everything cleared.

The rototiller came next, in order to soften up the ground. Then with rakes and shovels we leveled the yard.

Next we picked up rocks and smoothed the ground a few last times.

We loaded both our trucks to their max. 60 rolls of sod in each truck filled them to their limit. 2 loads a piece did the job. The most back braking part was getting the sod out of the trucks and into the wheel barrow. Try lifting 20 lbs on your knees 180 times or so.

Hauling the sod into the backyard with the wheel barrow was good. Dad got 9 rolls in each load. I had to up him and did 11. Most loads I did 9 rolls, since 11 wanted to tip over on me. It went down quickly and made an instant difference in the feel of the backyard.

Now all that is left is to water it and enjoy. Dad has been watering it twice a day. It should do great. I am glad that I will never have to chop weeds in this backyard ever again.

New Vinyl for Gma Higham

2011-05-14T19:52:00.008-06:00

Grandma and Grandpa Higham have lived in their house for near 26 years and have had the same vinyl in their kitchen. It wore very well, except right on the seam. It was time for some new vinyl.

Since I work in a flooring store, I got them a great deal on vinyl. My dad and I left his house at 7 a.m. and headed for Clearfield. Just over 2 hours later we arrived and it was a lovely day. Grandma Higham was at work until noon, so that gave us a few hours to complete the job before she got home.

We headed inside to inspect the floor and double check a few measurements. Usually the worst part of a vinyl job is removing the old vinyl. In this case, we were very lucky because Grandpa Higham, Zack and Andrew removed it a few days earlier. I cannot say enough thanks for doing the worst job for us.

They did a great job removing the old vinyl. However, Grandpa Jenson still got down on his hands and knees and inspected every inch of the floor to removed any staples or nails that got missed. He found a few and then was satisfied.

Then we laid out the vinyl on the front lawn to rough cut it. We cut it to the dimensions of the kitchen, leaving it about two inches long on the sides. We also cut a slit so the vinyl fit around the cabinets. This part was nice, since the grass was soft on the knees.

Next we took the vinyl inside. We cut it to get it to lay mostly flat. Then we lifted it up, folding it back halfway and applied glue in sections. Be careful not to trowel yourself into a corner.

Then we carefully cut along the edges, making them lay down perfectly. You must be very careful with this step. If you cut too much off, there is no going back.

The next step was the roller. By starting in the center and working toward the edges in a fan shape, bubbles are worked out and complete contact with the floor is achieved.

As a reward for all our hard work, we received lemon fritters. Apple fritters are superior, but lemon ones were still appreciated.

Here is the finished product. It looked very nice.

We left at 12:30 and Grandma Higham was not home yet. She called me later and said that when she got home the fridge, the stove, the dishwasher and the kitchen table were all back in their places. The only thing different was the floor. She loved it.

Seth's Scriptures

2011-05-13T12:26:00.003-06:00

As the same as most two year olds, Seth wants to do everything himself and be independent. When we read in the Book of Mormon, he wants his turn too. He got his own book and Grandpa Jenson wrote Seth's name in the front. He always makes sure that he has the right book and is quick to show me his name each time. He thinks it says "Seth Thomas the train Jenson." Since he can't read, he has been allowing Jennifer to help him. She will read two words and he will repeat them. He does pretty well. We sometimes have a good chuckle at the big words that he is saying and at the way that his little mouth messes up sometimes. Last night when it was his turn, he did not want Jennifer to help him read. We told him to go ahead. He got the book in front of him and said, "Behold." Then he looked at Jennifer like, "Was that right?" That is not what the verse said, but he knew that many verses start this way and it would

be a good guess.

When we ask Seth who's turn it is to pray, he always says that it is his turn. He does well and at least prays how he has heard us pray. If we try to help him, he says, "Not you, Me!" We keep trying and he takes our directions, reluctantly. We may have to start saying two prayers,

so he can get his turn too.

Crazy weather

2011-05-10T12:47:00.000-06:00

I cannot believe how unpredictable the weather is. One day it will be warm and sunny in the 70 and the next day there is rain, thunder, lighting, and hail.

Thomas and Ray worked out in the yard one evening and then to relax we went down to the park for some friendly games of horseshoes.

Seth had a great time with his own plastic horses.

He was so excited to be playing with Daddy and Grandpa.

No jackets needed except on the little guy.

Carter just watched from the side and kept tabs on the water bottle.

Then yesterday this is what we found on the ground.

When will it warm up and stay warm?

So Tired

2011-05-09T12:50:00.000-06:00

Carter was so tired I did not have time to lay him down before he fell asleep.

At least he ate all of his lunch first.

Seth is very active and always wants to be playing some kind of sport. The weather was very nice for a few days so we took advantage. We played at the park and in the front yard. We played soccer, baseball, and football. We are so ready for summer.

Carter's Piano

2011-05-08T08:49:00.002-06:00

Carter loves to play the piano. He does not know any songs yet, but loves to hear the sounds he can make. He is walking a little and can pull himself up to get into things. He frequently helps himself to a session on the piano.

We often hear someone playing the piano, one note at a time. He has even been known to play with both hands.

He likes to accompany Grandpa Jenson. He handles the high notes. Grandpa is not disturbed by Carter playing on the right end of the piano, because he cannot hear the highest notes anyway.

Chopper 5

2011-05-02T15:05:00.002-06:00

Chopper 5 and Nadine Wimmer came to Castle Heights today to congratulate them on all the reading they have been doing. We lined up on the soccer field while the copper landed. Seth was excited but did not fully understand what we were waiting for. Cater just watched everyone around us.

Nadine and the Principal said a few things and then they let each class walk around the chopper and then pose for a picture with the crew.

Center High Mounted Brake Light

2011-04-28T20:27:00.004-06:00

Seth and I get bored sometimes, so we come up with things to keep us busy. Today's project was putting a high mount brake light on the rear of my new camper shell. It is required by the Utah Highway Patrol that all trucks manufactured after September 1, 1993 have a center high mounted brake light. If you have a camper shell which blocks the original high mount brake light, the law requires you to have a center high mounted brake light on the rear of the camper shell. I do not need a safety inspection until July, but I would rather fix it now. I also hate when I see people that have vehicles that are not in compliance with safety inspection law. Those that do not maintain their vehicles' safety features (lights, tires, brakes, etc.) do not care about the rest of us.

Seth is always right there trying to help and saying, "Dad let me see." He is a good kid and I am glad to have him by my side.

I started by hooking into the driver side brake light. The taillight and the brake light are the same bulb. I did not want the center brake light to come on with the lights, so to find out which wire sent the power to the brake light I used Dad's volt meter. It was the green wire. I stripped some of the insulating rubber off the wire and spliced in another wire. Then I used electrical tape to put it all back together.

I fed the wire through the rear fender and through a manufacturer's hole into the bed of the truck. I attached some quick connect fittings on the end of two wires. Now when I take the shell off, I just unplug the connection and do not have to take off any tape or undo wires. I asked the guy at the store if he had any blue fittings. He only had red. They will have to do.

I then found the center of the shell, drilled holes and connected the light onto the shell with two bolts. It lit up, so I guess everything is good. Now if you are behind me at night you will be able distinguish between my taillights and my brake lights.

Old Shell, New Again

2011-04-26T11:12:00.005-06:00

Dad had an old truck shell from his '79 courier that had been sitting in his backyard for over 6 1/2 years. He meant to take it to the dump, but never got around to it. A few weeks ago he told me to brake it up and get rid of it. Then we used it for our tomato greenhouse. I told him that I wanted to cut it and make it fit on my truck. He thought that it was a bad idea and that it would not look good. He kind of told me not to mess with it. Well, he went to California this last week with Mom, Mark, Linda and Jackson, so he was not around to stop me. I told Jennifer my plan to cut it and she agreed with Dad, saying that I couldn't fix it and make it look good. I wanted to try and if it got messed up, it was junk anyway.

I started by taking it apart at the rear where I planned to cut it. It had around 150 screws holding all the trim and windows on. I was careful not to brake any of the rubber molding. It was old and brittle.

Seth was right there helping me the whole time. He held my tools and handed me things. He handed me screws one at a time and kind of slowed the process, but I like him, so I let him stay. He is helpful. He knows the difference between a screwdriver and a hammer.

The top is tin. I measured, scribed a line and pulled out Dad's tin snips. It made for a neat and clean edge. It did not have to be so perfect. The rear door and a piece of molding sandwiches the end of the tin anyway. I then used a hack saw to cut the support and trim pieces on the sides. I took careful notice of how it was put together before I took it apart. Not all the support and trim pieces reached all the way to the end of the shell. I cut them accordingly.

The length that I needed to fit my truck fell right in the middle of the tinted rear side windows. I wanted to cut them, but it would not have turned out. I took them out all together. I planned to buy some Plexiglass, but did not want to spend any money on this project. Instead I used two pieces of the scrap from the top to fill in the gaps on each side. I started to get excited as I reassembled it and saw that it was coming together beautifully.

Here you see the side rear window missing and the tin in its place.

I got it all put back together and everything looked good. I didn't know what to do with this extra stuff, so it got tossed in the garbage. Have you ever put something back together and had an extra piece and did not know where it should have gone?

Now all that it needs is a center high mounted brake light, which I will rig up, and a BYU sticker in the rear window. This project was fun, free and will be quite useful. The best part is that Dad, Mom and Jennifer said it could not be done. Well, if I could stick my tongue out at you on the blog, I would. :)-

Toy Boxes

2011-04-24T19:03:00.004-06:00

Grandma Jenson wanted to buy two new toy boxes from K Mart. They were on sale and seemed to be a good price. Grandpa said he did not want them. He thought that they were cheap and would easily brake. Most furniture is made out of plywood and little kids will cause it to fall apart, in his opinion. I decided to make some for her out of real wood.

I did not get pictures of the whole process, but Carter says they are very nice.

I used a pocket hole jig to connect all the boards together. I used Grandpa Jenson's large clamps to hold everything tight while I screwed it together.

Things did not line up perfectly, so I did a little sanding. Grandpa's belt sander worked great.

Jennifer was helping me hold the box on its end and she kind of got injured. I don't know if she got in the way of the sander or if the sander went after her. She lost a little skin. She said it felt like a sun burn.

Grandma chose a dark stain to match her entertainment center downstairs.

She wanted them downstairs by the TV, so they would double as a bench for extra seating. I've wanted to make something like this for a while. These are my first attempt at making furniture. It was fun and a learning experience.

I thought that these days were over?

2011-04-22T13:54:00.002-06:00

It has been awhile since I have had to hang laundry to dry. It has been so nice having a washer and dryer but I guess when the dryer stops working it is back to my old ways. It is a good thing we had rope and practice at making cloths lines.

Thanks to YouTube, Thomas and I were able to take the dryer apart, which was quite a task. We found that the heating coil broke and would need to be replaces. An easy fix since we already have the dryer all apart. The only problem is no one in town has the part. Thomas bought one from Amazon.com, so it will take a few days. Until then only the most important laundry will be done.

Here is the reason for all our trouble. A new heater element on the internet would have been $64. Sears was selling one for $125. Thomas bought a new coil for $9.99. What a deal.

Defrosting the Freezer

2011-04-20T21:50:00.000-06:00

Last night I thought that it would be fun to defrost Grandma Jenson's chest freezer. It sounded even more fun since they had just left for Disneyland. The first thing I did was pull everything out and put it in coolers. I thought that it would all fit in 2 or 3 coolers. The freezer holds a lot more then I thought. It took 5 coolers, 2 baskets and a box. What had I gotten myself into? I started removing the ice with two screw drivers. Thomas got me some special tools to make things easier. He got in his dad's carpet tools and brought me a hammer and his stair tool. The stair tool is shaped like a chisel that is about 4 inches wide. It worked great. After I got most of the ice cleared away, I found some pretty interesting things. There was a pot roast and some sausage from 1999. I also found a chunk of our wedding cake. Thomas was so excited. I was just going to throw it away but he wanted me to thaw it out so that we could sample it and remember our wedding day.

After 24 hour in the fridge I pulled it out and Thomas was all over it. One side was rock hard and the other side was soggy. It tasted just as he remembered.

I did not sample it.

Garden

2011-04-07T14:53:00.000-06:00

Here is the start of our garden for 2011

We have planting it with Grandma and Grandpa Jenson. It is located in the back corner of their yard. We turned over all the dirt with a shovel and leveled in with a rake.

We have planted peas, green beans, broccoli, lettuce, squash, peppers, carrots, radishes, and cucumbers.

We are using drip hoses to make the watering very easy. I have never watered this way and hope that we have positioned them to be most effective.

We may have planted our tomatoes a little early so we covered then with this old truck shell. It should provide a little protection from the cold and serve as a green house.

We have only planted half of our garden so we need to get more seeds in order to fill in the rest. We will also plant pumpkins and zucchinis once it warms up a little more.

Itchy Mess

2011-03-31T21:41:00.000-06:00

When Carter went in for his well child check up, we found out that he had double ear infections. He got some antibiotics. It seemed to be working. Then a few nights later Carter woke up in the middle of the night and sounded like he was in some pain and I could not consul him. I figured his ears were the reason for his unhappiness. I decided to give him some Tylenol to help him go back to sleep. When I turned on the light I noticed that he had a little bit of a rash on his face. I unzipped his pajamas and saw that it was on his stomach and a little on his back. It was not on his arms or legs. I thought Chicken Pox; not fun. Hopefully they have an appointment available for tomorrow. I sat up with him for almost an hour just to see if the rash spread.

Carter woke up again at 7:30 am and when Thomas saw him it had spread to his legs and arms as well. Thomas said Chicken Pox also Then he said it was probably an allergic reaction. I called the doctor at 8:30 and the only opening was at 2:00 that afternoon. What were we to do until then?

We found out that it was an allergic reaction in the antibiotic amoxicillin which is a form of penicillin. The strange part is that he had been taking it for five days with no signs. I guess it can show up with sort of a delayed reaction. Maybe he needed to get plenty in his system before it kicked in. The doctor gave Carter three new prescriptions and told us it should start to look better and be mostly gone by Sunday. Cater handled it really well. The rash looked a lot worse than I think he felt, but he still is very needy for me and always wants to be held. He is doing much better now and is looking better too. A few more days and he should be all clear.
Grandpa Jenson is also allergic to penicillin. Thomas' mom says that Erica is allergic to penicillin as well. Don't worry the doctor said it is not genetic.

Kids Kite Day

2011-03-19T13:04:00.005-06:00

Today we went to Kids Kite Day. It was up at the model plane airport, near the fairgrounds in Price. It was hosted by the local radio station, KUSA, and Carbon County Recreation. They gave out free kites to the first 250 kids. They also gave out free hot dogs and root beer. It started at 11 am. We got there at about 11:15. As we rolled up there were already nearly 150 kites in the air, but it looked like more. We feared that Seth would not get a free kite. We did get one and it was a good one.

Seth enjoyed seeing all the kites and flying his own. He got bored after a while and pushed Carter around in the stroller. I took over and had a great time showing off for Jennifer.

It is hard to see all the kites in the air. If you count all the people on the ground, there was a kite in the air for each one of them.

The wind was just right. We had a great time.

I wanted to see how high the kite could go. I let it out all the way. The knot a the end of the string did not look like an eagle scout had tied it. I thought about retying it. A little boy next to me asked me for my help with his kite. I was holding my kite in my teeth and fixing that little boy's kite, when suddenly my kite was gone. It blew into a field next to the runway. I got the little boy's kite back into the air and then went to retrieve my kite. I got it back and found another one that got lost as well.